12.14.2007

So, it may be news to some readers that I am now employed as a computer tech support and instructor at a local elementary school. I am presently a temp but am working towards a full-time (read that, with paid time off, great insurance and some job security) position.

This is my first ever foray into the hallowed world of academia and so far I've found quite alot more pros than cons.

Some of the cons are easy to list off: my computer lab is a balmy 51 degrees right now and, if I'm lucky, it'll hit 65 by quitting time.

But really the pros are outweighing bad stuff by a good margin.

The teachers are grateful to have a positive and helpful tech again after the last guy, who was a grumpy jerk for the most part. The last guy also burned his bridges badly when he left by emailing the entire school district with his resignation and then descending into personal attacks with curses and other stupidity. I understand not liking your job and quitting because of it but I cannot, for the life of me, understand why he felt the need to burn every single contact in the district. That's just short sighted, stupid and demonstrative of a piss poor worker.

I've also gotten a little bit of insight into the workings of the public education system which has been interesting and welcome. More on those later.

Right now I'm closing in on my first paycheck since I started working here almost seven weeks ago. And yes, this is my first real and substantive gripe about the position. One, I dislike being paid once a month. Two, I made sure all of my payroll paperwork was completed and turned into HR well before the deadline because I wanted to make for damned sure I got my paycheck as soon as I could.

The only problem is that my paperwork wasn't processed for ten full days after I turned it in. Five days too late to be processed for the current pay period. The solution they offered? Just wait until January. My response was polite but quite firm that No, I needed some damned money now, not next month but thanks for trying to weasel out of your laziness in not doing your job very well by screwing me over. Thanks ever so much.

With just a little prodding the issue got kicked up the chain and, with some luck, will be resolved later today by the special drafting of a revolving check. The HR director was very helpful in blasting through the red tape and getting this done and I'm appreciative of his help.

Because working for nearly three months without so much as a penny to show for it is absolutely crazy and it would have given me an awfully strong reason to keep my currently idling job search process going at full speed.

As it is, I'm looking forward to the holiday break but not looking forward to no income during that time so I'll be doing what I can to keep the duckets rolling in.

Overall, I really like my job, the kids are great, the teachers are grateful and very nice, the administration is open to suggestions and the hours are really pretty sweet. Oh yeah, my commute is whopping 3 miles which totally kicks the buttocks and I'm looking forward to riding my bike to work soon (once the winter weather has gone away).